


Afraid of the Dark

by GayMarauders



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1st year marauders, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 19:40:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6252949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayMarauders/pseuds/GayMarauders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus Lupin is eleven years old, and he's afraid of the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afraid of the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an anon on tumblr, based on the message "yo YO i cry about remus lupin a lot so like this guy has really really bad memories of when he was attacked (in the middle of the heckin night when he was four years old!!!) like he's always been uncomfortable with the dark but it's pretty unavoidable. talk to me abt this"

Remus John Lupin is afraid of the dark.

James discovered this the second month of school, when he woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of Remus crying. He wasn’t sure what was wrong, but he knew that something must be seriously wrong if his tiny, snarky classmate were that distressed. So, ever the bold and matter-of-fact child, he snuck over to Remus’s bed and slid under the covers.

Remus was startled at first, but when he realised it was just the loud boy (Jim? Jack?) from the bed next to his, he relaxed slightly.

“It’s the dark, right?” James whispered surprisingly discreetly.

“What?”

“It’s the dark. That’s why you’re crying, right? Mr. Pureblood over there was the same way for the first week–I think his parents used to lock him in a closet or something. And it _is_ awfully dark lately.”

Remus was silent, waiting for the conspicuously absent punchline. He was eleven years old, after all, and not many eleven year old boys would be very understanding of one of their classmates crying because of the–

“Want me to show you a trick?” The boy’s glasses glinted slightly in the near-pitch dark, and Remus could just see that his eyes were wide open and–well, sincere.

“Trick?” He wiped his face with the back of his hand, the tears slowly stopping their progress down his cheeks.

“ _Lumos,”_ the boy whspered. Suddenly, Remus could see that he was holding his wand out. The tip glowed softly, illuminating most of the bed, and casting a soft light on the first years’ faces. “Better?”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Remus sniffed. Despite he found himself intrigued by the boy in spite of his habitual stand-offishness. “Is that a spell? Lumos?”

“Yeah. My mum taught me when I was little. And you just say ‘nox’ to turn it off.” He set his wand on the blanket. “Want me to leave this here?”

“Erm, actually, I mean, you probably don’t want to leave your wand behind…it’s ok, really.” Remus snuggled further under the covers, shivering at the thought of the darkness enveloping him once again.

“Fine. Scoot over, mate.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not leaving you alone in the dark. Scoot over.”

“O–kay. Er, by the way…what’s your name?”

“James. And you should know, I snore.”


End file.
